Dreaming of Someplace Warm

The majority of the United States is getting pummeled by snow and cold.  Up here in northern Utah it's a week full of snow storms with a tiny break on Thursday.  Next week it will be partly cloudy and in the 40's, so nice and toasty. :P

All this snow has me craving warmth.  It happens every Winter, and then in the Summer, when it's super hot, I think a little snow wouldn't be so bad.  :\

I've just been craving the beach so bad recently.  It wasn't until yesterday when I realized the last time I was at the beach was when I visited the Ring of Kerry in Ireland, May 2019!!!  That's the last time!!!!!!  And I visited California four times after that British Isles trip.  It just so happened that all four trips to Cali was to Disneyland.

On one of those Disney trips, July 2019, my Mom and Aunt decided to visit Newport Beach.  I could have gone with them but decided instead to stay at the Disney park and spend the day with my Dad running around California Adventure.  We did soooo much!  I got so soaked on Grizzly River Run I might as well jumped in a pool fully clothed.  That final geyser did me in.  It was so bad.  That was a good day.

But at that point my Mom and I booked a trip with Steven and Ty to do a Disney Cruise in the Caribbean for late February 2020, so I was planning on seeing the ocean then, then Steven lost his job in January, so we canceled the trip.  In hindsight my Mom and I regret the cancellation, but if we had gone we wouldn't have taken my two older nieces to Disneyland instead, and I'm glad we got to experience Disneyland in all its glory one last time before everything closed down.

This is the longest I've spent away from the beach.

I'm aching for the sound of the surf.

I close my eyes and imagine Cambria CA, walking along wooden paths.  That's my favorite place, my happy place, even more than Disneyland.  So many wonderful memories.  Thankfully my imagination is strong enough to whisk me away to those beautiful sights.  Every now and then I feel Cambria in my memories.  Hopefully I'll get to see the ocean again, sooner rather than later.

Sarah

 

Dreaming of California

I just realized that this is the first year in my life I haven't visited or lived in California.  It's where I was born.  When I moved with my family to Utah at 19 I've somehow managed to visit good ol' Cali every year since the move.  Well, 2016 is the year I avoided California.  Not by choice, but out of circumstance.  I can't complain, really, as I've done an amazing amount of travel this year, but I miss it.

My Mom, Grandma, and I were suppose to visit Atascadero, Cambria, and Santa Barbara this week.  But the trip fell through.  Financially it's all for the best.  My Mom and I were taking my Grandma to visit her brother.  Hanging out in Cambria was the fringe benefit.  I miss Cambria most of all.

Well, I'll visit Cambria in my dreams.  Disneyland is my second favorite place in the World for me next to Cambria.  I love it that much.  (Is it sad I love Disneyland so much as well?)  Still, salty air, scent of pines and herbs, walking above and along Moonstone beach, hearing the waves and otters crack shells in the distance.  Heaven on Earth, really.  I'm just glad I've had so many opportunities to visit.

Food For Ear and Soul

I hate wanting to listen to music and not knowing what I want to hear.  It's like being hungry and not knowing what I want to eat.  Maybe I'm the only one who goes through this, but it's been happening a lot lately.  A lot!  Craving music and not even knowing what genre I want to hear: Classical, country, American pop, foreign pop, jazz, new age, soundtrack, Broadway, Celtic, bluegrass, etc.

it's like an itch I can't scratch.

A feeling of wanting to play a song on loop and not knowing which one.

It's like wanting to say a word that stays stuck on the tongue.

Or a foggy memory refusing to come into focus.

So I've settled on the next best thing: natural white noise via www.calm.com.  The meditations on the site are way too expensive, but I like the nature sounds, which are free. Listening to ocean waves right now seems to be doing the trick.

I miss the beach.

. . .

In other news I can really go for a Chimichanga, despite it being breakfast!

Risk

(Santa Barbara)

"To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk disappointment. But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, sees nothing, has nothing and is nothing. He cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love and live." ~ unknown